Baseball officials fear drug pipeline may start in South Florida

January 27, 2013|By Amy Shipley, Sun Sentinel

Major League Baseball has turned over information to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that suggests a pipeline for banned performance-enhancing drugs may originate in South Florida, two knowledgeable sources told the Sun Sentinel.

Baseball officials have grown increasingly concerned that local doctors and trainers may be supplying drugs to professional ballplayers in the wake of a recent spate of flunked steroid tests by players, many of whom have South Florida ties.

Major League Baseball officials have traveled to South Florida in recent months to gather evidence, according to one source, but their ability to investigate has been hampered by their lack of subpoena power.

Both sources said the DEA is looking into the matter, but it is unclear how far along the agency is in its probe. One source said it appeared to be in the preliminary stages. A spokesperson for the DEA's Miami field division declined to comment Sunday.

Baseball officials provided the DEA with information concerning New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, both sources said, but it is not known if he is a target of the probe. The slugger's ties to doctors or trainers suspected of supplying drugs to players have attracted the scrutiny of Major League Baseball in the past. Rodriguez, who owns a home in Miami Beach and attended the University of Miami, admitted in 2009 to using steroids early in his career.

Rodriguez's attorney Jay Reisinger, did not immediately return a request for comment.

A host of players have recently tested positive for the steroid testosterone or other drugs associated with steroid use, suggesting to baseball officials that an organized distribution ring could be contributing to the positives. As league officials reviewed the recent cases, one source told the Sun Sentinel, many lines pointed to South Florida, where many players reside in the off-season, train in the spring or travel for treatment when they are injured.

The region is known for its so-called wellness or anti-aging clinics, which are largely unregulated by the state of Florida and commonly offer prescriptions for testosterone and human growth hormone — two popular performance-enhancing drugs — as components of anti-aging treatment.

In November, San Diego Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal, who attended Miami Springs High and the University of Miami, flunked a test for the steroid testosterone and received a 50-game ban.

In August, Oakland A's pitcher Bartolo Colon, who attracted scrutiny in 2010 when he flew to the Dominican Republic with a Boca Raton wellness doctor for a procedure not approved in the United States, tested positive for testosterone, as did San Francisco Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera, a Dominican-born player who lives in Miami. Both received 50-game bans.

Ryan Braun, a University of Miami graduate and former National League Most Valuable Player, was accused in 2011 of testing positive for testosterone, but he successfully argued that Major League Baseball did not follow proper procedures in conducting the test, so he was not suspended.

The cooperation between MLB and DEA in South Florida was first reported Saturday by the New York Daily News and ESPN. Both detailed the alleged relationship between players and Anthony Bosch, the son of Miami doctor Pedro Bosch. A source confirmed to the Sun Sentinel that Major League Baseball officials provided information on the Bosches — and other doctors, trainers and associates of players — to the DEA.

Neither of the Bosches immediately returned requests for comment.

The father and son have been connected to a number of wellness clinics in the area in recent years and in 2009 were linked to former slugger Manny Ramirez, who retired in 2011 after his second positive drug test.

The Daily News reported that Anthony Bosch has advised Rodriguez on nutrition, supplements and blood analysis. Rodriguez, who underwent hip surgery in New York in January, previously received treatment from controversial Canadian doctor Anthony Galea, who in 2011 pleaded guilty to bringing misbranded drugs in the United States.

In the past decade, cooperative efforts between sport investigators and federal drug agents on cases involving banned performance-enhancing drugs have become common. But some sport and anti-doping officials worry that the appetite for such probes has diminished in the aftermath of the expensive and largely unsuccessful prosecutions of former Major League players Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, and the two-year federal probe of cyclist Lance Armstrong, which did not result in an indictment.